Every year, millions of Americans are required to file tax forms with the Internal Revenue Service. These forms are used to collect information about a taxpayer's income, deductions, and tax credits. However, the process of completing these tax forms correctly is often an arduous task for the average American. Thus, many taxpayers rely on professional accountants to understand United States tax law, and complete the required tax forms efficiently and correctly.
Taxpayers have numerous options for tax preparation. At present, computer applications for tax preparation exist that allow taxpayers to complete their tax forms without having to hire a professional. Most tax preparation applications present the user with a tax survey, which presents the taxpayer with a series of questions which are used to generate a completed tax form. Generally, these questions are directed to taxpayers who lack the knowledge and experience of a professional.
Because of the complexities of United States tax laws, questions presented to a taxpayer during a tax survey are often not directly taken from the questions listed on the tax form. Further, because of these complexities, it is often not intuitive to a taxpayer how the final tax form is generated. Thus, when a taxpayer uses a computer application for tax preparation, there is often a disconnect in the mind of the taxpayer between the relevance of the questions presented in the survey and the final tax form that is generated.